The New 'Les Misérables' Is Changing The Way Movie Musicals Are Filmed

"This is the first time anyone's ever tried it like this," says star Anne Hathaway of the film recording live singing.YouTube/Universal

There is something you should know about the upcoming, star-studded "Les Misérables"—opening Christmas Day—that makes this movie musical different than any other.

The Tom Hooper-directed film is the first of its kind to record actors singing live, as opposed to in a studio beforehand, which is usually the case.

Producer Cameron Mackintosh explains, "We've found an amazing group of actors [Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried] who are completely at home acting through music and the only way you can make that work is by capturing it in the moment."

The film's star Anne Hathaway adds, "It's going to be different for sure, this is the first time anyone's ever tried it like this."

But actor Eddie Redmayne, who plays the character Marius, explains it best:

Normally if you were making an old school movie musical, actors would go into a studio and record an album and then two months later we would arrive on set and they would play the playback and we'd mime alongside it. The problem with that is you have to make all of your acting choices three months before you've even met the actor you're working with. By recording it live, Tom [the director] is allowing us the spontaneity of normal film acting.

And we're calling it now, you'll be seeing "Les Misérables" and its actors at the Oscars this year.